Malcolm is Two Years Old!

Last Updated on Friday, 20 May 2005 03:53 Written by Steve Friday, 20 May 2005 03:53

Spatial Shopping Lists

Last Updated on Friday, 20 May 2005 02:20 Written by Steve Thursday, 19 May 2005 02:14

Now that I have 2 kids, I end up going grocery shopping a lot. I found myself walking into the store with a list that looked something like this:

• cereal
• olive oil
• 1/2 pound ham
• oranges
• pecans
• 4 C batteries
• etc.

While this list accomplishes the task of helping me remember what I need to get, its organization doesn’t match the way I shop. I happen to walk in the door near the produce section, but the list doesn’t start with produce it starts with cereal, which is at the other end of the store. I found that I had to reconcile my list with the layout of the store multiple times during each shopping visit–something that drove me crazy, especially with a long list and no pen to cross items off the list.

A grocery store is laid out spatially, and the most efficient way to shop is to traverse that space and buy your items as you walk past them. It’s most efficient to only pass each area once. With the standard list, I found myself in the produce section going through the whole list and asking, “which of these items are produce?” I would pick up those items, then walk to the butcher section and ask, “which of these items are meat?”

There had to be a better way…

One day it occurred to me to make grocery lists that matched the spatial layout of the store. When I am making a list of things to buy, I start by drawing a rectangle (the rough shape of the store) and as I think of items to buy, I write them on the rectangle, reflecting where they actually are in the store.

In the rare case that I need to buy something and I don’t know it’s location, I write it in the corner of the list and look for it as I’m shopping.

It may seem like a small thing, but now I can quickly glance at the list and start shopping without the mental gymnastics of reconciling two different ways of organizing data–the simple list and the layout of the store. This works so well that my wife has started using the same method, which is nice since I’m often shopping with her lists!

Current Political Discourse in America

Last Updated on Friday, 20 May 2005 02:08 Written by Steve Thursday, 19 May 2005 06:31